Clone movie could be a clone

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An independent film company is alleging that a big Hollywood
studio has made a clone of its movie The Island.

In the film, a young man, played by Ewan McGregor, goes on the
run after discovering he is part of a colony of clones being kept
as spare parts for the rich and ailing.

In the older film, The Clonus Horror, released in 1979, a
young man, played by Timothy Donnelly, goes on the run after
discovering he is part of a colony of clones - kept as spare parts
for the rich and ailing.

The Island cost Warner Bros and Dreamworks $US125 million
($162 million) to make; Clonus Associates' movie cost $US250,000.
One film has been derided by critics and has turned into the
box-office flop of the year in the US. The other has been ignored
by critics but become a cult classic.

The two films are to meet in a New York court after the
production company behind The Clonus Horror sued the
producers of The Island, alleging 90 instances in which the
later film was identical to The Clonus Horror.

"I went to see it and my mouth fell open," said Myrl Schreibman,
co-producer of The Clonus Horror and a film professor at the
University of California. "It's our story unfolding. On one hand it
was flattering but on the other hand you have to ask, where's the
ethic in filmmaking?"

The producers of The Clonus Horror are asking for
unspecified damages, part of the proceeds from The Island
and the film's withdrawal from distribution.

The similarities have been noted by publications and websites,
including Premiere magazine, which said: "The first hour of
The Island plays like a much more expensive albeit
scene-for-scene remake."

The suit alleges that characters, costumes, setting, action
scenes, even the sequence of scenes and specific shots, are
identical in both films.

"I saw it and frankly really wanted it to be different so I
wouldn't have the burden of going through this," said The Clonus
Horror's director and co-producer Robert Fiveson, who was
alerted to the similarities after he was asked if The Island
was a remake of his film. "I enjoyed The Island, and
thought, wow, if I had had $US120 million to make my movie."

But he said his appreciation of the new film did not affect his
conviction it had been taken directly from his film.

Dreamworks and Warner Bros have 20 days to respond. A judge will
then rule whether there are grounds for a federal injunction. In a
statement DreamWorks said: "The Island was independently
created and does not infringe anyone's copyrights."